all the world's a stage

While everyone is buried in think pieces on this historic election, I want to talk about “Torch Song” on Broadway. Call it “Broadway Talk” if you want (as long as you say it with a strong Brooklyn accent á la Linda Richman). “Torch Song” is Harvey Fierstein’s laugh-out-loud play about a gay man (Michael Urie), his on-again off-again lover (Ward Horton), and his Jewish mother (Mercedes Ruehl). It’s pretty brilliant and the performances are phenomenal. Also, as my dear friend (and theatre companion) Marissa pointed out, “Torch Song Trilogy,” the original Tony-award winning iteration of this play in 1981 cast beloved soon-to-be “Golden Girl” Estelle Getty as Mrs. Beckoff, mother to Fierstein’s Arnold. This is where her acting career began...at age 58! Talk about a second act!

So I saw this play on election night and two things struck me:

1. During intermission (around 8:20 pm), some women on the bathroom line were nervously chatting about the election results, saying they were too anxious to check their phones. The worlds collide. No longer can you enter a theatre and be transported. At least not when there’s an intermission (one argument against intermission, which I have mixed feelings about).

2. We still really need more stories like this. The world of the 1980s and the world 30 years later don’t look all that different. There’s still too much hostility toward LGBTQ people and this is one of many plays reflecting that injustice. There’s something really wrong with that.

As many plays, TV shows, movies, books, podcasts, etc. about gay people are out there, we need more. We need ALL the gay stories and ALL the trans stories. And, sadly, all the Jewish stories and Muslim stories. And all the stories about people of color, and women in power, and all the scary things that keep conservatives up at night so much they simply cannot accept that this is in fact normal. So let’s saturate our culture with as many stories as it takes so that we don’t ever have to talk about it again. Let’s flood humanity with humanity. There is nothing alternative about us. There is nothing to fear.

Okay, rant over. Now to the play because, well, the play’s the thing, right? “Torch Song” is, in short, excellent, which is not to say it isn’t without it’s faults. Going in you should know it’s very talky. That means for those of us in the cheap seats, many words tend to get lost. And the words are so good (some might say Fierstein has the best words....shhhhhh don’t tell Trump). Mercedes Ruehl is the number one offender in swallowing her lines. The house is thankfully intimate, but not small enough.

And speaking of words, can we give Michael Urie a Tony for his accent alone? He plays the main character Arnold, a New York drag queen known for singing torch songs. For a goyish Texan, he’s got the Jewish Brooklyn thing down. Of course, we already knew he could nail it from the wonderful “Buyer and Cellar,” a one-man show in which he sort-of portrayed Barbra Streisand, among other characters. Sorry if you missed it. It was pretty great.

Urie’s a bit slight for a drag queen but I guess if you’re singing Judy Garland, you want to represent. I would have liked to hear/see some performances by Virginia Ham (Arnold’s drag alter ego) but I guess Urie isn’t much of a singer? Or, more accurately, Fierstein isn’t. But I guess it’s not really about the drag.

Also great is Jack DiFalco as gay foster teen and truant David (originally played by Matthew Broderick, so you can just imagine the charm emanating from him). Arnold is in the process of adopting David and their interactions are equally hilarious and moving. They are platonic soulmates who bounce off each other in wondrous ways.

And, aside from the line swallowing, Ruehl happens to be more than competent with a difficult role and she manages to deliver the most uproarious line in the entire play (I won’t ruin it but it’s a line that can only come from the most homo-ignorant). So she’s kind of a bigot. She’s old...and also a Depression baby (“that stays with you”). Is being old and in a heteronormative bubble your whole life an excuse for bigotry? Discuss. It’s messy and “Torch Song” does a fine job of addressing the mess.